While Cal Raleigh seemingly has put a stranglehold on the mantle of best catcher in baseball this season, Salvador Perez showed he’s not done yet.
Perez went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs to lead the visiting Kansas City Royals to a much-needed 6-3 victory against Raleigh and the Mariners on Tuesday.
The four-game series continues Wednesday night in Seattle.
Perez has been considered the preeminent catcher in the American League for the past decade. He’s a nine-time All-Star who has five Silver Slugger Awards and just as many Gold Gloves.
His 48 home runs in 2021 set a major-league record for a catcher — a mark Raleigh seriously is threatening as he’s hit 33 so far this season.
But the 35-year-old Perez has shown signs of slowing, batting a career-low .237 in 2025.
Perez seemed to indicate the passing of the torch in the series opener Monday when he gave Raleigh a pat on the “Big Dumper” when he came to the plate for the first time.
While Raleigh homered in that game, Tuesday was Perez’s night.
He doubled home two runs in the fifth inning, doubled again in the seventh and had a run-scoring single in the ninth.
“They always say the good thing about baseball is you’re going to have a lot of opportunities,” Perez said recently.
The first double moved him past Alex Gordon for the sixth-most hits in franchise history with 1,644.
“I mean, those numbers are historic,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Perez’s achievement. “In Salvi, the team captain, leader all the time, plays hard all the time, he never wants to come out. All the things that you look up to as a teammate and as a staff member, and for him to just keep checking boxes under the Hall of Fame career is really special to be able to watch.”
Five Royals combined for 4 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief as they won for just the second time in their past 10 games.
“The bullpen held tight,” Quatraro said. “I mean, that’s a tough lineup. They’re hard to navigate with their pinch-hitters. They can beat you in a lot of different ways, and the bullpen was lights out.”
Randy Arozarena homered for the third time in the first two games of the series for the Mariners, who had won six of their previous nine games.
Raleigh, meanwhile, was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
“We tried to mount a comeback a couple of times … but just not able to get them in,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Sometimes that’s going to happen. That’s baseball. But we’re going to continue to be as aggressive as we can and continue to try to put the pressure on the other team.”
Wednesday’s pitching matchup features Royals rookie left-hander Noah Cameron (2-4, 2.79 ERA) against Mariners ace right-hander Logan Gilbert (2-2, 3.55).
Cameron, who will be facing the Mariners for the first time, sported a 0.85 ERA through his initial five starts before going 0-3 over his past four. That included a 5-4 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers last Friday in which he gave up five runs on just three hits over four innings. Two of those hits were homers.
Gilbert, who missed seven weeks with a right elbow flexor strain, is 1-1 with a 5.87 ERA in three starts since his return from the injured list. He got a no-decision Friday at Texas when he allowed four runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. Gilbert is 2-1 with a 5.03 ERA in six career starts against the Royals.